08 September 2015
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Casio’s new Celviano Grand Hybrid boasts the sound of Bechstein
Now in its 30th year of making digital pianos, Casio has announced its first hybrid, the Celviano Grand Hybrid piano, created in collaboration with the Berlin-based piano maker C. Bechstein ...
BERLIN AT THE PRESS OF A BUTTON
Casio’s new Celviano Grand Hybrid boasts the sound of Bechstein and announces British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor as its ambassador
Now in its 30th year of making digital pianos, Casio has announced its first hybrid, the Celviano Grand Hybrid piano, created in collaboration with the Berlin-based piano maker C. Bechstein. With this new instrument, and with British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor as its ambassador, the Japanese maker has moved up a step in the competitive and ever-expanding advanced digital piano market.
The most eye-catching feature of the Celviano Grand Hybrid, first unveiled at a press event in Berlin in September, is the inclusion of three European grand piano sounds: ‘Berlin Grand’ (based on a sample of a C. Bechstein D 282 grand), the ‘Hamburg Grand’ and the ‘Vienna Grand’. With these three sound choices available on its piano, Casio has attempted to capture the piano characteristics of these famous cities.
Like other hybrid pianos, the Celviano Grand Hybrid has elements of both acoustic and digital instruments. The acoustic side appears in the form of real concert grand piano action – the Natural Grand Hammer Action – wooden keys, hammers and all (albeit without the strings to follow on). The keys are made of spruce wood, as they are in Bechstein’s acoustic grand pianos, and the whole action comes in one unit. Other acoustic grand elements are smooth dynamic changes between piano to forte, different lid adjustments, and that all-too familiar sound of the damper pedal being raised.
The two Celviano Grand Hybrid models available so far are the GP-500BP and the GP-300. At the launch, Grosvenor played Ravel’s Toccata from the Le tombeau de Couperin on the GP-500BP, set to ‘Berlin Grand’ sound. He remarked afterwards that ‘I think playing this Ravel demonstrates its abilities – with the repeated notes, light playing, dynamics. Now, for me, the real action is a big selling point. It feels like a real piano under the fingers.’
The GP-500BP (retailing at £2,999) and the GP-300 (at £1,999) will be available in the UK from mid October. A third – the AP-700 (at £1,499) – will also be released in October.
Further information at www.grand-hybrid.com and www.casio-music.com.
A full story on the new piano appears inside the next issue of Pianist.
Casio’s new Celviano Grand Hybrid boasts the sound of Bechstein and announces British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor as its ambassador
Now in its 30th year of making digital pianos, Casio has announced its first hybrid, the Celviano Grand Hybrid piano, created in collaboration with the Berlin-based piano maker C. Bechstein. With this new instrument, and with British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor as its ambassador, the Japanese maker has moved up a step in the competitive and ever-expanding advanced digital piano market.
The most eye-catching feature of the Celviano Grand Hybrid, first unveiled at a press event in Berlin in September, is the inclusion of three European grand piano sounds: ‘Berlin Grand’ (based on a sample of a C. Bechstein D 282 grand), the ‘Hamburg Grand’ and the ‘Vienna Grand’. With these three sound choices available on its piano, Casio has attempted to capture the piano characteristics of these famous cities.
Like other hybrid pianos, the Celviano Grand Hybrid has elements of both acoustic and digital instruments. The acoustic side appears in the form of real concert grand piano action – the Natural Grand Hammer Action – wooden keys, hammers and all (albeit without the strings to follow on). The keys are made of spruce wood, as they are in Bechstein’s acoustic grand pianos, and the whole action comes in one unit. Other acoustic grand elements are smooth dynamic changes between piano to forte, different lid adjustments, and that all-too familiar sound of the damper pedal being raised.
The two Celviano Grand Hybrid models available so far are the GP-500BP and the GP-300. At the launch, Grosvenor played Ravel’s Toccata from the Le tombeau de Couperin on the GP-500BP, set to ‘Berlin Grand’ sound. He remarked afterwards that ‘I think playing this Ravel demonstrates its abilities – with the repeated notes, light playing, dynamics. Now, for me, the real action is a big selling point. It feels like a real piano under the fingers.’
The GP-500BP (retailing at £2,999) and the GP-300 (at £1,999) will be available in the UK from mid October. A third – the AP-700 (at £1,499) – will also be released in October.
Further information at www.grand-hybrid.com and www.casio-music.com.
A full story on the new piano appears inside the next issue of Pianist.
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